MGABC Growing

BROADLEAF EVERGREENS IN THE WINTER GARDEN

Late winter has to be one of the best times of the year to cast a critical eye over the bare bones of any garden. It’s a welcome opportunity to review the structure and balance of our landscape - or maybe the lack of it - and to consider what adjustments or amendments we might like to make. This is the time of year we can clearly see the relative...

FINDING COLOUR ON A GRAY WINTER'S DAY

When gray days seem endless, and your energy flags, put on your boots and take a stroll through the garden. On the Pacific coast, our gardens don't really go to sleep...there's always something coming up or glowing with a spot of colour - even if the sun isn't part of the picture! Here's a small photo essay of my walk at the end of January. ...

FROSTED TREASURES IN MY GARDEN

A January stroll in the garden finds frosted beauty in the garden.

GREETINGS FROM THE DISABLED GARDEN

Three and a half years ago, I was in a near fatal car accident. I am a C-3 tetraplegic, unable to use my arms or legs, as a result of the crash. I spent one month in Vancouver General Hospital and two months in a hospital in my home state of California. After begging, pleading, and demanding that I be allowed to return home, the doctors consented. My husband...

WINTER MUSINGS

The English poet A. E. Housman gives me an unexpected take on the death that comes with winter and the promise it holds of spring. “The night is freezing fast,” he writes, “Tomorrow comes December;/And winterfalls of old/Are with me from the past;/And chiefly I remember/How Dick would hate the cold.” Dick would hate the cold if he were alive...

VANCOUVER'S NEWEST FOOD OASIS

As I write this all snuggled up in wool socks by my space heater, watching the rather disgruntled chickens make their way through the snowy yard, it is hard to believe that it’s almost time to start planting for the upcoming growing season. But in two weeks, my seeds will arrive and my basement will become ground zero for seedling production for my early season crops...

NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE AT VANDUSEN LIBRARY

The following is a list of new books available at the Yosef Wosk Library and Resource Centre located in the new VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre. How to grow winter vegetables SB321.D69 2011 Dowding, Charles. Totnes, Devon: Green Books, 2011. 1 copy ref. Chicken poop for the soul: in search of food sovereignty HD1476.C32 B75 2011 Dowling...

ALL ABOUT SPROUTS - it's N.E.A.T!

Why Sprouts? Because, sprouting is N.E.A.T.! As the garden sleeps under the glistening frost, eating fresh living food from our gardens becomes a reminiscent dream. Well, my friends, this year you will be able to enjoy a greater diversity of freshly grown food within the comforts of your cozy home. How? Sprouts of course! Nutritious -...

SEED STARTING: PEAT & PLASTIC-FREE

Peat extraction is highly damaging to ecosystems as peat grows slowly enough, 1 mm. per year according to Royal Horticultural Society, to be considered a non-renewable resource. While many gardeners have traditionally started and grown-on seeds indoors in peat pots and in peat-based growing mixes, there are a number of environmentally friendly alternatives that can be...

FROST HEAVES: Cause and Prevention

Cause: Frequent temperature cycles above and below freezing cause water near the soil surface to freeze, expand, and pull up more water from underground. This causes desiccation underground and, due to pressure, compaction. The ice layers near the ground surface create pressure that displaces soil, rocks, hardscape material and plants (perennials, trees and shrubs)....

The Winter Issue